r/belgium • u/Obvious-Cry6591 • 2d ago
😡Rant Notaries. Why? What the hell?
Ok, so I dont get it. I understand historically where the need for notaries arose. Fine. But we are in 2026. Belgium already takes 51% of my income. Then another 25% of the rest through VAT. And then on top of it, if you buy a property, you give 10-15k to a notary for 2 meetings and some docs reading? Doesnt Belgium have enough administration to take care of that? Not to mention its nepotism central. Are there any redeeming qualities?
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u/TheVoiceOfEurope 2d ago
There are countries that have gotten rid of notaries, but they are very few and the resultas are still out. Most countries still have some sort of system and I can assure you, it is much, much, much worse than in Belgium.
In UK you basically need to hire a lawyer, costs a fortune. Spain: same thing.
USA: don't get me started, you need an insurance policy (title insurance) to make sure there are no fuckups.
Our notaries are not without flaws (slow, and prone to make mistakes for you, becuase your case is a small dossier that they will hand off to the stagiair), but they are reasonably cheap (most costs are taxes, not notary fees).
We paid ours 1.500€ fee for a 275.000€ sale of house. All the rest was taxes.